The Game Changer

Park guide maps and power bar wrappers litter the table. Old FastPass tickets are strewn on the floor. Somewhere under the rubble, a stopwatch continues to run. Forgotten.

SHANE sits on the floor with his back to the wall. Spent coffee cups around him, maybe something stronger. He hasn’t showered in days, evidenced by the weird neckbeard that looks like something out of a bad photoshop.

Shane flips open his phone, dials, waits.

VOICE (O.S.)
Hello?

SHANE
Hello? It’s me… Whoa, wait. Don’t hang up. Please. I know what you said, I just… I just need to see you. Please? … Yeah, yeah, out at the airport. You know where. Thank you.

EXT. AIRPORT – NIGHT

Shane drives up to the fence, slowly gets out of the car. Runway lights strobe the darkness behind him. He squints into the night. The OTHER CAR is already there.

Shane waits as the driver’s door creaks open. The CRUNCH of footsteps on gravel. The OTHER DRIVER approaching.

Out of the darkness appears TED.

TED
I saw you on the news. Still keeping an official count, huh?

SHANE
Old habits…

TED
You look terrible.

SHANE (laughs)
Thanks.

TED
Why did you call me, Shane?

SHANE
I was hoping you’d heard. That maybe you’d go to the funeral.

TED
Maelstrom was a great attraction, but why would I go to the funeral?

Shane strokes his neckbeard. Can’t seem to find the right words.

SHANE
I’ve been riding a lot.

TED
What?

SHANE
Yeah, that Annual Pass we got? I… I’ve been using it. Every Friday night I… go into Epcot or the Magic Kingdom. And then I… I ride AstroOrbiter, maybe eat a pretzel, and then I drive home.

TED
Why?

SHANE
Because I want it to shut down, Ted. I don’t care about anybody else on on-board. Every little rain drop or lightning flash, I mean, I actually close my eyes and pray that I can get back to that day.

Shane was raised on a steady diet of EPCOT Center and Kenner action figures. Parkeology is the happy result. He is the creator along with his friend Ted of the WDW47 Challenge and the WDW49 Challenge — featured by such media giants as CNN, ABC, FoxNews, and the in-flight magazine for Norwegian Air. With his brother Tristan, Shane is the author of the adventure fantasy novels Arabian Heist and Johnny Shipwreck. He currently resides in the Swiss Family Treehouse.

So we drop two attractions and add one… I haven’t been since the new one was added, and granted backlot takes up a loooot of time, but man 7dmt is gonna be killer to work around haha. Good luck to you.